After last year's AES show, this was the one plug-in I was really excited to hear. We have one of the hardware Chandler TG 12413 limiters in the studio, and it has quickly become a favorite amongst the engineers here. Let's face it, the question for a plug-in like this one is, "Does it sound like the hardware it emulates?" It should be noted that this plug-in has two versions, the 2005 Chandler recreation and the vintage 1969 EMI version. Although I haven't had a chance to use this myself, one of our engineers, Robert Cheek, used it while mixing a track with Deftones drummer Abe Cunningham. Robert's been using the real TG quite a bit and is able to coax a lot of different sounds out of it. "It seems to sound just like the real unit," was his response. "I usually have to decide between putting it on the drums or the vocals, and on this mix, I didn't have to." The next week, engineer Thom Monahan was in mixing a record for the band Rosewood Thieves. At one point, he pulled me aside and said, "I have to tell you, that EMI plug-in sounds amazing. I think the 2005 version even sounds a little bit better than the hardware version." So there you have it, if you want to hear the EMI limiter faithfully recreated, this is a killer deal for Pro Tools users.
($400 street for PT LE, $600 for HD; www.chandlerlimited.com)
_disp_horizontal_bw.jpg)